chapter 3

"Oh dear heavenly gods that has guided, protected, and provided us with shelter, food and water, along with the magic we use on our day to day lives. may you continue to protect us from evil, by showing us, no, showing these children the way to the path of the hero of legends that had slain the demon king oh so many years ago." says the head minister as he prayed, along with the others with the 9 children on their knees, waiting for him to finish, well all except Geno, who is all but asleep, so bored that he's having to fight stay awake, and Luna pinches his side and he flinches, his eyes shooting wide open then looks at her, he smiles and mouthed the words "thank you." to which she smiles warmly and nods. After what seems like forever the head minister finally finished the prayer and looks eager to get the ceremony underway and he looks to the girl from the fire realm.

"Now then, Ashley Phoenix will you please come up and touch the magic crystal so we can determine what hero you are and take hold of your calling in life!"

Ashley stands up and walks up to the platform. There is clear traces of pride in her step as she approaches the crystal. " Come now, we all know I'm gonna be the strongest hero, don't see why this whole thing is needed." she places her hand on the crystal and it glows a burning orange, as if it was on fire and she smiles proudly, as if satisfied by the results. the head minister nods and claps his hands.

"Good, good! that's exactly the result I expected from the leader of the fire realms daughter. I'm sure you'll be a powerful heroine of fire, Ashley Phoenix!" he looks at her, moderately proud that such a young woman can possess the heros flame and tanasity, and Ashley heads back to the group.

The head minister clears his throat. "Now then, Chishiki Tansaku-sha, please come forth and proceed with the ceremony." the weak looking boy in scholar robes nods and stands up, holding a book in his hand, eager to read it he walks forward and stops at the crystal.

"hmm I'm curious as to what element I possess, I hope to learn as much about the hero, and about myself as I can." he placed his hand on the crystal, and it turns to a shade of purple, and some ether cubes float around the crystal. "interesting, what does this mean minister?" he looks to the man and he nods. " this my boy is heros power over ether, the whole explanation will take far too long to explain, but the short answer is your able to draw the magic from the air around you, and use it to shift and reshape anything you touch, so long as it's withing your realm of understanding and reason of course. the hero of legends used it quite a bit to protect not only himself but also others by using the very earth beneath him to act as a shield, it's a powerful element indeed."

Chishiki, satisfied with this answer and eager to learn more about this power goes back to the group and the the minister nods and looks to the boy with rugged, tribalistic clothes.

" now then, Ren Frushi of the Far-lands, please step forward t-"

" yeah yeah I got it we all know the drill by now" Ren speaks up and goes to place his hand on the crystal, and it glows a greyish color, and dust flies around it like a whirlwind, everyone looks confused, but then the pedestal that the crystal starts to crack ND turn to dust on the side and the minister gasps, understanding what the power is.

"Ah, you must have the power of the void." All of the kids look at him, clearly confused as to what he just said, and Chishiki speaks up.

"Uh, the power of void sir? what exactly do you mean by that?" The rest of the group nods, wondering the same thing, and the head minister sighs, shaking his head. "The void was the heros most, destructive power, unlike the any of the other 7 powers, which can either burn, freeze, create or cut something, the power of the void, completely erases that object, turning it into nothing but dust." One of the ministers clears their throat and speaks up. " well that's what the hero told us, there could be more that he didn't tell us. He was a bit of a secretive man when it came to his powers, so you all could be able to do things that he had never shown us."

This, gets the group excited, the mere idea that we can do something that the hero never showed anyone is enough to get the nine excited about this whole thing. Ren has a mischievous grin on his face as he returns to the group, as if he's plotting something in his mind.

The ceremony continues as planned, each child, one by one learning what piece of the heros power they possessed, one wind, another water, then lightning, then ice. then it finally came down to the brothers, Tatsu, and Geno. " Now then, Tatsu, will you please come up to the crystal."

The younger of the twins nods, and stands up proudly, and slowly walks to the crystal, when he arrives, he takes a look at Geno, who nods and grins, as if to say give it all hes got, and Tatsu nods and places his hand on the crystal in response, it gives off no color, but shines a blinding light, making everyone, including tatsu forcing him to let go of the crystal and step away.

The crystal then stops shining and returns back to the original. " What the HELL was that?!" Ashley says loudly in surprise and annoyance that she got blinded by the boys power. and the minister rubs his eyes and blinks a few times, trying to regain his sight.

"Th-that was incredible, was that the light of the hero?! I've never seen it shine so brightly before!" He looks at Tatsu, amazed by what he has just saw and goes to place his hand on his shoulder and smiles widely. " You my boy, Tatsu Magala! have truely been blessed with the bravery of the hero of legends! you wield the power he used to vanquish the horrid demon lord!" He sounds very excited and happy that he got to bare witness to such a momentous occasion.

"Now then, now that we have gotten everyone we can move on with the-" Luna speaks up, raising her slender hand. " actually minister, you forgot about Geno, he hasn't gotten to find out what his piece is yet." the minister looks baffled, having completely forgotten about Geno, he clears his throat. "Oh, yes of course. Geno Magala, please step forward and place your hand on the crystal."

Some of the ministers scoff at Geno walking up to the crystal, one of which speaks up. he seems to be an old, bitter man that is very strict and religious to boot. " Tch, why bother with that worthless boy? he never trains, studies, nor does he have a trace of mana in his vessle! We don't need such a worthless, unruly boy as one of the-." "Minister Vanadis, im sure he knows how you feel towards him, there really is no need for an uproar during this ceremony." Says a younger minister, seeming in his late 40s, and he smiles at Geno as Vanadis growls lowly and looks away.

Geno gets to the crystal, takes a deep, breathe, then places his hand on the crystal... but nothing happens for a few minutes. "Oro? is uh... is this normal?" Geno looks at the head minister and he shakes his head slowly. "I'm not entirely sure what it means, maybe you don't possess the heros mar-" Suddenly the crystal shatters in Geno's hand and the pedestal it was on collapses underneath itself, surprising everyone, unsure of what it means.

"WHOA! OW!! THERE'S SHARDS IN MY HAND!" Geno flinches and Luna and tatsu rush over to check if he's ok. " what, what was that?" the head minister asks, everyone looking at Geno, who is just as confused as the rest of them.